Gregory Randle has written a beautifully detailed accounting of a lost way of life. In The Last Ferryman, we meet Buck Shyrock, a man who has known little other than being a ferryboat captain for the past forty years. It is now 1939 in Millersville, Illinois, and a bridge is to be built on the Wabash River, finally connecting the states of Illinois and Indiana. Initially, Buck tends to dismiss the idea that the bridge will actually be built as he goes about his simple life as a widower with a son and two granddaughters. But then, the bridge pilings appear and Buck can no longer deny the inevitability of change. Others become concerned that Buck is not facing up to modern reality. His oldest granddaughter takes it upon herself to see that her grandfather remains safe during the transition which is unavoidable for him. It is the intervention of the child that finally startles the grandfather into appropriate thought. The captivating thing about The Last Ferryman is the way author Randle details the environment and the impact the old ways of life have for the small town of Millersville. The character of Buck is unforgettable as is the personality of his granddaughter Holly. The child is empathetic and intense in her concern for her grandfather and there is a true inter-generational bond that will touch the hearts of readers. This is not a fast-paced novel by any means. Rather it is a sit-back-and-ponder the changes in a single lifetime sort of read. It is bound to stir up stories of nostalgia and memories of the "good old days" when life was simpler and more personal.

Frederic Remington's unfortunately named "The Courier du Bois and the Savage" (1891) For nearly 250 years, the fur trade existed as another arena for empires across the Atlantic to wage their wars in as it was the driving force behind the North American from the early seventeenth century to the collapse of the industry in…